1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a novel method of generating hydrogen gas from water.
2. Description of Related Art
Hydrogen is emerging as the favorite alternative to fossil fuels. Presently, hydrogen is primarily used as a feedstock, intermediate chemical, or, on a much smaller scale, a specialty chemical. Only a small portion of the hydrogen produced today is used as an energy carrier, mostly by the Aerospace industries. Automotive industries are developing new models that run on either hydrogen based internal combustion engines (ICEs), or gasoline—fuel cell cars. However, most of the commercial hydrogen production processes are not considered as renewable as these technologies merely shift the source of pollution from a distributed one (like cars, households for example) to a more concentrated source like hydrogen producing plants or thermal power plants. The United States hydrogen industry alone currently produces nine million tons of hydrogen per year for use in chemical production, petroleum refining, metals treating, and electrical applications.
The technologies for the utilization of hydrogen as a fuel are at a more advanced stage today than the technologies for the efficient production of hydrogen from renewable resources like solar energy, wind, tidal energy or geo-thermal energy. There is an immediate need to develop better, more efficient and inexpensive technology for the production of hydrogen from renewable resources and bridge this gap between the production and consumption technology of hydrogen and attain a synergy between the two segments. The National Hydrogen Energy Road map of Government of India has also given prominence on development of advanced production techniques and application of technologies based on hydrogen fuel.
The electrolytic process is used worldwide for production of hydrogen gas. Currently, this method is used to produce high purity hydrogen. The cost of hydrogen produced using this method is significantly higher and, hence, it is used only in specialty applications like semiconductor manufacture. But this method can facilitate more distributed hydrogen generation using electricity made from renewable and nuclear resources and will help to cater local requirements with minimum distribution and storage requirements.
The primary by-product of this process is oxygen. Steam-methane reforming process is also used widely for the hydrogen production. In this catalytic process, natural gas or other light hydrocarbons are reacted with steam to produce a mixture of hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The high-purity hydrogen is then separated from the product mixture. This method is the most energy-efficient commercialized technology currently available, and is most cost effective when applied to large, constant loads. Partial oxidation of fossil fuels in large gasifiers is another method of thermal hydrogen production. It involves the reaction of a fuel with a limited supply of oxygen to produce a hydrogen mixture, which is then purified. Partial oxidation can be applied to a wide range of hydrocarbon feedstock, including natural gas, heavy oils, solid biomass, and coal. Its primary by-product is carbon dioxide. Emerging methods hold the promise of producing hydrogen without carbon dioxide emissions, but all of these are still in early development phases. Some of these technologies are thermo-chemical water-splitting using nuclear and solar heat, photolytic (solar) processes using solid state techniques (photo-electrochemical, electrolysis), fossil fuel hydrogen production with carbon sequestration, and biological techniques (algae and bacteria).